[mcl6136]

Hi all,

I need a space to vent and seek some reactions so here goes. I don't know how to put this in a graceful way, so I will simply jump in.

I work at a community museum where I oversee the team that gets exhibits up and opens them to the public. Last week we had three openings in a row for our new show of art. The first was Thursday, then Friday and then Saturday.

I worked 59 hours last week. My team worked their tails off. Things went really well with our biggest patrons and I was happy, though totally fried. Then, my new boss arrived at our all-staff meeting (with all the other divisions) and complimented the maintenance staff for choosing a really vibrant color for the walls in the exhibit.

I thought it was a joke. He said nothing about my team, our guests, nothing. I was going to keep my head down and work all day on follow up. But then he came in and asked me how my weekend went.

Weekend? I had a day of recovering...feeling like I got hit by a truck.

I said, well, it wasn't much of a weekend.

GAH!!!!

I don't know how to handle this.

[healingme4me]

Would opportunity present itself to say something along the lines of "when I heard praise for maintenance, it came accross as the remaining staff effort was unappreciate/undervalued. Was that an oversight in that moment?"

[seesaw]

It could be that by "weekend" he was referring to the event and how you felt it went?

I think this could be easily discussed if you just remain calm. I mean, if you said something like, thank you for acknowledging the maintenance staff, and I think it would go a long way for you to recognize the many other staff who worked very hard all weekend on these events and were part of the exhibition set-up crew, some who did far more than maintenance.

It actually sort of sounds like when he came into your office to ask how things went that he was asking how the event went because really, why does he care about your personal weekend?

I think you could approach him and say "I don't think I got the chance to tell you how well the events went from my team's side..." and then you can sing your team's praises and tell him how happy all the patrons were.

I think there's a tactful way to deal with this and get the boss singing your praises.

Seesaw

[mcl6136]

Originally Posted by seesaw

It could be that by "weekend" he was referring to the event and how you felt it went?

I think this could be easily discussed if you just remain calm. I mean, if you said something like, thank you for acknowledging the maintenance staff, and I think it would go a long way for you to recognize the many other staff who worked very hard all weekend on these events and were part of the exhibition set-up crew, some who did far more than maintenance.

It actually sort of sounds like when he came into your office to ask how things went that he was asking how the event went because really, why does he care about your personal weekend?

I think you could approach him and say "I don't think I got the chance to tell you how well the events went from my team's side..." and then you can sing your team's praises and tell him how happy all the patrons were.

I think there's a tactful way to deal with this and get the boss singing your praises.

Seesaw

OOOOPS!

I forgot to say that he was there for the entire day Saturday until I left. So I figured he must be asking about Sunday.

I like your suggestions ....thanks. I'm going to try this today. He seems exceedingly resistant to hearing from his staff right now, preferring to deal with community members, donors and others.

One of his other direct reports made the crack that he was "allergic" to the people who report directly to him.

I'm worried for my job, and I'm not alone here.

Still, I'm going to try this.....